5 Years Ago
by MidnightStarr
Summary: As Max travels down the path of memory, certain times and moments in his past bring about new realization and understanding to him. MariamxMax


**Jemma:** This fic is to remind everyone of 'Reminisce' a fic she made earlier and deleted. But this one is better. And there aren't any mistakes either. Lol. Read and review!

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Max let out a contented sigh as the summer breeze whisked through his blonde hair and sent the tree tops around him shivering with delight. It wasn't cold, it was just right.

The blonde stretched, flexing his new-found coming of age muscles and looked around him.

The world, or what he loved most had not changed. He was happy.

The trees were still green, the ocean so blue, sky so clear... Of course, it had had it's storms.

"Max?"

..But Max had his shelter.

He smiled and turned as the Love of his life called his name curiously. Her lips curved upward in a beautiful, loving smile as her husband walked back to her and kissed her cheek, letting his hand caress the top of the child's head in her arms.

"Nothing's changed..." Max sighed, peering behind the woman to the delapidated old dojo where he once had stayed with his best friends. Mariam smiled weakly at him, casting the greying dojo walls a remembering glance from the corner of her emerald eye.

"No. It's still the same... Welcome home?" She said softly, letting her hand gently rest on Max's dark green jacket-clad shoulder. Tate just smiled, raising his hand and placing it on her's.

"It once was. From here to New York." Mariam smiled, her long, free blue hair being tousled by the wind as she drew the sleeping baby girl tighter against her chest and stepped out past her blonde life partner.

"I'm going to go see our favorite spot.. See if that changed." She said, stepping into the brush of the forest, her pale skin growing darker as she drew more and more into the shade of the trees. Max smiled, picking up the bag he had set on the ground minutes before and walking after her.

The former BladeBreaker peered around at the trees as he made his way, trying to recognize each trunk, each clearing to the shining blue sky. The very last time he'd walked down this path, was when he was sixteen; five long years ago.

Even though that specific walk was one he didn't relish remembering, he couldn't forget;

Max had walked down that path to cry. It was five years ago, that Mariam had left with her team and he thought he'd never see her again. It was five years ago then, that he remembered his most treasured of moments. Max let Mariam disappear further into the trees, while he came to a stand-still, and peered up through the light green leaves at the forever-lasting sky.

Max recalled what he thought of that day, five years ago. As he sat there, on that rock, peering over the great ocean.

Max remembered the first time he'd ever saw her. A hooded figure who struck when she was least expected, and packing quite a punch. How she was so... Entrancing. So horrific, and terrifying to him. So magical and mean-spirited. But yet... How Max saw the light inside.

And despite what people may think, or have said about him, Max did _not _see the good in everybody. No one could be that condescending.

Then, he'd wiped away his tears and thought of the final battle they shared before the SaintShields gave up their search for the bitbeasts. At the abandoned theme park. Max, here and now, turned his azure eyes back away from the sky and looked around the forest. All the light, twittering noises, the peacefulness... How he'd felt, knowing Draciel would now be safe forever more.

Max bent down, and picked up a stone. He clenched his hand around it, and threw it out into the trees. A rush of branches, then startled calls as a squall of birds shot up from their hiding in a conifer, and blotted the blue sky with dark ink.

It made Max think again to his last day at his special place, and what he thought of there. How he'd thought of the peace being shattered that he felt inside when Mariam told him she was leaving. Leaving to go back home. Max let out a deep sigh. He also thought of how much he cried when that turn of events ran over and over in his mind.

"_But I don't want you to go!" Max grabbed the SaintShield's arm, stopping her from turning and walking from him._

"_I have to, Max... I'm sorry!" She spat at him, giving her arm a rough tug out of his hold. And turned and ran. Max felt his heart sink as he watched her form continue to disappear into the sunset. Her flight was tomorrow... He couldn't let her go without knowing!_

_Max grit his teeth and bolted after her. Mariam gave a gasp as she felt his strong arms lock around her and force her to turn around to face him. _

_She didn't say a word, before Max just pressed his lips to her's, holding her tightly into him. Delaying her escape._

Max, 21, here today smirked at it as once more, his eyes peered up into the clearing in the trees. He'd been a gutsy kid; no one could take that from him. The day after Mariam left, was the day when Max had sat at their special place and cried, a sixteen year old boy. Now five years later Max reminded himself of painful, and meaningful events. Especially that day when he cried, because that was when he ran those events most fluently through his mind.

Then there was the night before she left; the same night Max and Mariam shared their first kiss.

"_Max, what is this place?" She asked as she ducked under a branch to follow her blonde now -boyfriend out of the forest, and to a clear view of the ocean._

"_It's... Just a place, really.. But it's kinda special to me I guess... Gives me privacy and time to think and remember." He said. Mariam nodded, walking out beside him. She looked down at the stone of the rock beneath her feet, and peered down at the tumbling ocean below them._

"_This is pretty cool, Max..." She muttered, sitting down carefully as to not fall off. Though falling would be fun too. Max smiled weakly and sadly as he sat down too._

"_..I thought I should show you before you left.... So, when you come back, you'll know where to find me." He said, his attempt at sounding happy just not doing the trick. Her pale face turned to look at him, and she raised her hand, letting it caress his cheek._

_Max was a little surprised, but delighted. His hand raised as well, pressing her's harder to his cheek._

"_I really.. I really don't want you to go." He said, his voice almost becoming choked with tears._

"_I don't wanna go either... But, they're waiting for me back home. I can always come to visit, you know.. And you could come visit me." She said softly. Max knew she was better at hiding emotion than he was. Heh; a female Kai. But still... Visit? People never did that... It was just a way of saying 'it's been fun. But now our time is up'._

_Without warning, like the kiss they shared earlier, Max removed his hand from her's and wrapped it around her thin waist, pulling the strong girl to him easily and into his lap. He almost smiled when he felt her face, against his chest, heat up with blush._

"_...You won't forget me, right?" He looked down at her, waiting anxiously for her answer._

"_...No, Max, I will not, and I can not, forget you." She said stiffly. Max looked through that stiffness to the feeling behind it. Then lifted her chin, and kissed her passionately. Both sets of eyes were closed almost immediately, as the sun completely set on Mariam's last day. But her last night, well..._

_As clothing began to get shed, and more kisses were applied, it seemed to last for blissful ever._

Max smiled sadly at it, just like he'd smiled sadly when he cried on that rock five years ago.

Then he kept walking, out to the final clearing of the trees. Mariam was already sitting at the rock's edge, like years before when he reached her. The baby girl was pulling at her long hair with a bright smile, now awake in Mariam's arms.

Max sat down beside them, beside his family, and took baby Angie into his arms.

"Angela Tate... What would I have become without you?" Max smiled, lifting the small girl and kissing her forehead. Her skin was pale in reflection of her parents', but her bright blue eyes and light blonde hair she could only obtain from one person.

Max thought back once again, to a day with everyone dressed in white and black. This day, four long years after Mariam left. One short year after they met again. Max and Mariam were twenty, and wed at the altar. One of the happiest days of his life.

"_I do."_

"_You may kiss the bride."_

Max smiled, the sun setting once again.

That sun set, reminded him of when he and Mariam celebrated their honey moon, and how special it was to them.

So special, they created life. Max looked down again at Angie in his arms.

"The greatest gift of all."

Mariam looked over at him and smiled lovingly at her husband. They married in July; Angie was born in April, like her mother. But now, as July rounded the corner again, Mariam leaned over and planted a loving kiss on Max's lips.

"Happy Anniversary, Max."

"Happy Anniversary, Love."

They kissed again.

Max knew, deep down inside, that he would always remember this moment.


End file.
